Homeschool Curriculum, Part 1

Recently, I was asked about our homeschool curriculum choices. Actually, just about every time I meet another homeschooler, the conversation steers toward the topic at some point. Its interesting learning what other families use and sharing ideas.

I thought I’d cover our choices. If you aren’t a homeschooling family, you may want to skip this post.

I’ll start with my usual disclaimer. This is what works for our family. It is not “the best” or “the only” way to homeschool. Every family has to find the best arrangement for them. The number of children, their ages, and everyone’s learning/teaching styles all play a role in this decision.

I had to figure out what it was I needed to teach, and then figure out what tools I was going to use to accomplish that. I started researching what it was she needed to learn as a fourth grader. I found several examples of a “course of study” from a broad range of sources, both Christian and secular. Surprisingly enough, they were all quite similar. Furthermore, I looked into our state’s guidelines for learning, related to NCLB. Teaching to the test isn’t part of our plan, but it is helpful to have a general idea of those standards. I created a master list of the course of study and the applicable state standard. At this point, I knew what she needed to learn.

Worldbook

Trivium

Education World

Next, I had to find the resources to teach those concepts. We attended a couple of homeschool conferences, sought the opinions of other homeschooling families in the area, talked with curriculum publishers, and flipped through an incredible assortment of textbooks.

In my next homeschool post, I’ll begin sharing our choices of printed materials.